UN Women Advancing Gender-Responsive Agriculture and Rural Women’s Empowerment under JP RWEE, Home-based, National Consultant

Background:

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between all genders as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action, and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the efforts of the United Nations System to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of national priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with government, civil society, and other relevant actors. In Nepal, UN Women, with an overarching five-year Strategic Note (SN) 2023 – 2027, aims to support the national stakeholders in advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women in line with internationally agreed normative standards that contribute to four outcome areas of the UNSDCF 2023 – 2027.

Under the framework of the current UN Women Nepal Country Office (NCO) Strategic Note 2023-2027, UN Women in Nepal continues its work to strengthen women’s leadership and participation in national and local level decision-making processes, empower women economically by supporting women, especially those from the most vulnerable and excluded groups, promote environmental sustainability, climate and disaster resilience, and transform gender discriminatory social norms and end harmful practices for inclusive and transformative human development.

Agriculture employs two-thirds of Nepal’s population and contributes 26% to GDP. Despite this, nearly 45 of 77 districts are food insufficient, and Madhesh Province—despite being in the fertile Terai region—faces serious food and agricultural challenges. Issues such as inadequate irrigation, climate-induced disasters (notably floods and desertification), and depletion of water resources due to overexploitation of the Chure hills worsen the situation.

A key challenge is the large-scale male youth out-migration, especially from Madhesh and Koshi Provinces. This has led to a \"feminization of agriculture,\" where women—who make up 80% of the agricultural workforce—bear the dual burden of farming and unpaid care work. However, only 19.7% of women legally own land, and many face restricted access to services, information, and technologies, particularly in Madhesh.

Climate change, including extreme weather events, and the COVID-19 pandemic have compounded these challenges. The pandemic disrupted input supplies, markets, labor, and food value chains, causing major losses in poultry, vegetables, milk, and fisheries, and disproportionately affecting women’s employment and food security.

Structural inequalities—such as discriminatory migration policies, gender norms, lack of access to resources, and inappropriate agricultural technologies—continue to marginalize women farmers. Despite their central role in agriculture, their contributions are undervalued, and their specific needs remain largely unaddressed in policy and practice.

To address these interconnected challenges, UN Women, in partnership with WFP, FAO, and IFAD, is implementing the Joint Programme on “Accelerating Progress Towards Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (JP RWEE)”, Phase II (2022–2027), under the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD). JP RWEE contributes to the Government of Nepal’s Agricultural Development Strategy (ADS) and aligns with the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Strategy developed with technical assistance from the first phase of JP RWEE.The JP RWEE adopts a holistic, multi-dimensional approach to rural women’s empowerment through four interrelated outcomes:

•             Improved food security and nutrition;

•             Increased income, decent work, and economic autonomy;

•             Enhanced participation and leadership in rural life and institutions;

•             A more gender-responsive policy environment.

In this context, UN Women seeks to engage a National Consultant to provide technical expertise in advancing gender-responsive agriculture policies, frameworks and programming for rural women. The consultant will work closely with federal, provincial, and local government institutions, particularly in Madhesh Province, and with key stakeholders including civil society organizations, to promote inclusive, equitable, and transformative policy reform in the agriculture sector.

This consultancy will contribute to:

•             Integrating gender equality in agriculture-related policy and planning processes,

•             Supporting the effective implementation of gender-responsive provisions within existing frameworks,

•             Advocating for rural women’s priorities in agriculture and food systems,

•             Strengthening national visibility and positioning of the JP RWEE, and

•             Promoting institutional learning, coordination, and accountability for gender equality in agriculture.

By engaging this consultant, UN Women aims to enhance the enabling policy environment that recognizes, supports, and invests in rural women’s roles and rights in agriculture, ensuring that gender equality is central to Nepal’s agricultural sector transformation.

2. Objectives

The primary objective of the consultancy is to provide technical expertise to enhance the gender-responsiveness of agricultural policies,  frameworks and programmes in Nepal, with a focus on rural women. The consultant will support UN Women NCO to advance its work on climate resilience agriculture value chain, particularly through the JP RWEE interventions in advancing inclusive policy reforms and ensuring that agriculture programmes address rural women’s needs, promote equitable access to resources, and build resilience. The role also includes strengthening the visibility and strategic positioning of JP RWEE and UN Women in gender and agriculture policy and programme spaces.

3. Description of Responsibilities /Scope of Work

Under the supervision of the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Programme Specialist, and in close coordination with WEE programme team, the National Consultant will provide technical support and strategic guidance on the country office’s advancing gender-responsive agriculture policies and frameworks, including linkages with climate change and DRR. The detailed scope of work and responsibilities of the assignment are as follows:   

Deliverables Deliverable in 2025 Expected completion time (due day)  Payment Schedule (optional)

By 30 December 

By 30 November

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

State whether the assignment requires partial, intermittent or fulltime presence on UN Women premises, and if applicable, a justification on why a full-time presence at a UN Women office is required. Describe expected travel that the consultancy assignment will require, including locations and duration(s).

This is a home-based consultancy. As part of this assignment, there will be field travel to Madhesh Province and other relevant locations as required.

Competencies :

Core Values:

Core Competencies:

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

Education and Certification:

Experience: 

Languages:

Evaluation Criteria:

 The maximum score that the candidate can achieve for this consultancy is 100. Out of 80, candidates who receive a score higher than 65 will be selected for interview. Hence out of 100, candidate should score more than 60 to qualified for this position.  

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.